My way

LAST week, I was torn between two worlds of different contrasting emotions, affected by the way politicians from both sides of the fence responded to the Automated Enforcement System (AES) issue and how the media handled the erotic act on YouTube of blogger Alvin Tan Jye Yee and his partner Vivian Lee.

On the AES issue in this column last Sunday, I am blessed to have had a way to “state my case of which I am certain, and to travel each and every highway,” as Frank Sinatra sang in his hit song – My Way.

But I am still nagged by how some media handled the issue of the porn blog couple.

If we believe that the couple is sick for “leveraging on sharing their sex life for more lasting fame” and that there is perhaps a desire that got carried away for “wanting Alvin and Vivian to become a household name, a pair known for being a sexually open duo,” then the media have given them a big lift in achieving their weird dreams!

Look at how extensive, intensive, exclusive and inclusive media coverage on the couple’s self-exposed sexual behaviour had been over just one week – and also at how the media have fared in their reporting about the incident.

In a mainstream English newspaper, four articles, including an opinion piece, were given prominence on a Sunday. Not counting the breaking-news stories from Oct 16 to 18, a total of thirteen stories were published on Friday and Saturday.

A mainstream Chinese newspaper gave equal if not more coverage – at least 10, with one day the front page lead story and a special interview splashed over a page and four other commentaries running from Oct 17-21.

A national daily, in a report, proudly declared its three online stories generated tremendous reader-interest – with 194,000 hits on the first two days of the breaking news.

In the same report, the daily also revealed its breaking-news story on the couple, published on Wednesday, topped the list of the most read stories with 86,675 page views on the Google Analytics Survey Service.

There were even interviews by radio stations owned by a media group but thanks to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission for putting a stop to the circus!

These are more than an average reader “can chew” just as Frank Sinatra crooned: Yes, there were times, I’m sure, you knew when I bit off more than I could chew. But through it all, when there was doubt, I ate it up and spit it out, I faced it all and I stood tall and did it My Way.

One veteran journalist – in an opinion piece – while saying the morality seems to be the last thing on the mind of the porn bloggers and others in the new generation also convey their voices that those who called for them to be punished are hypocrites and that they would probably have read every line of every article about them.

Reading between the lines, there was indication that this veteran journalist was trying to justify the generous space given to the bloggers by the media because there is a demand.

By putting words in the mouth of what he called the new generation, he was actually hinting that those slamming the media for giving extensive publicity to Tan and Lee’s tryst were being hypocritical – they could have been angry but still, they read every line of every article.

It was a slap on the face for moralists who questioned the media’s wide coverage of the infamous couple.

But have we all really read every line as accused? I was chatting with a young journalist who questioned the media’s justification for promoting the porn bloggers.

She asked: “Is there no other bigger issue to write about? There are many other Malaysian porn posers in the Internet but why did they single out these two bloggers? Is there any news value to it?”

In the next breath, this journalist who also belongs to the new generation noted: “We have this forum on the National Education Blueprint where hundreds of educators were given only one hour to express their opinions. How can we justify being allowed only that short span of time to articulate on such an important national issue when the media could give the bloggers their shouts to justify their acts?”

I could sense how disappointed she was with the journalistic profession as we rode in her car, trying to beat the heavy rain to keep an interview appointment.

But soon enough, as we talked to a disability equality trainer, the young journalist’s eyes started to shine as bright as the stars, her face radiant like the warm sunshine which appeared after the rain outside the café where we were seated.

I am happy this young journalist, who just won two big prizes at the Kenyalang Shell Press Award the night before, has not given up on journalism.

Yes, over the week, as Frank Sinatra expressed so explicitly in his own special way – I have loved, I have laughed and cried, I have had my fill, my share of losing, and now as tears subside – there is, indeed, still hope … more hope.

On a starry night, an email popped up on my computer screen in which a senior journalist in the UK – my consultant, trainer, teacher and friend – wrote: “I just sent to the printer yesterday the book for which you saw the cover (which I’m delighted you like). It’s my professional autobiography – mainly, not a personal autobiography but a professional one. Sarawak and Sabah feature quite prominently – in the eighties and recently. I’ll send you a complimentary copy of Journalism My Way.”

This wise teacher had said in an earlier book: The world is full of things that people don’t know and don’t need to know. To be news, information must impact on them at some level – in the wallet or purse, as curious human beings or as thoughtful citizens of the country and the world.

Thoughtful citizens with intellectual curiosity certainly do not need to know the five Ws  (why, when, what, where and who) and the one H (How) about the erotic bloggers and their sex life.

Yes, Journalism My Way is on the way. More importantly, there’s hope His Way.